"Precious" moment

Here I was, moments ago, holding a clean, pajama-ed Charlotte in my arms.  The lights are low, her music is playing and she's all ready for bed.  We are in her rocking chair, rocking and talking about her day, telling each other what made us feel happy, sad, etc.

I look down into her big blue eyes, she sucks her fingers and gazes up at me.

"I love you sweet heart."

A moment of silence.  Twila Paris croons from the CD player.  Charlotte removes the fingers from her mouth.

"I yuv you too, Poopy-Diaper face."

"Diaper-Head!"

For whatever reason, this name tends to get called out by one of my two offspring multiple times a day...I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise that they both donned them as hats one Friday morning at Starbucks.  

Adventures in Food

So one of the other things I've been dabbling in lately is helping my friend, Anna Davidson, with a few catering jobs here and there.  She, in my opinion, is brilliant.  Anna already is an established professional baker and a creative cook, it has been so much fun to watch as she takes on larger jobs.  I just like hanging around her, learning tricks of the trade and being part of the process.  

Early this month, we (mostly she, I just followed minor orders) did two first communion lunches for sixty people at two different homes one weekend, and then the following weekend, a Cinco de Mayo party for eighty(!) at a woman's house in Hinsdale.  Here are some of the items we made...hope they make you salivate:

Mini chipotle burgers with caramelized onions and arugula on homemade buns

Anna made a total of 96 cupcakes: red velvet, chocolate, vanilla, lemon chiffon and my personal favorite, peanut butter frosting over chocolate cake

Chicken nachos with fresh tomato salsa, beef skewers with two dipping sauces, grilled shrimp skewers...

A delicious avocado salsa, full of bright lime flavor

Southwestern chicken nachos, another favorite

Roasted sweet potato salad with corn, black bean and roasted red peppers

I want this.  Now.  The frosting is indescribably delicious, and the chocolate cake is super moist and rich.

Mother's Day

Well hello there, somebody's been completely absent, haven't they?  Blogging is a funny thing, I told myself that I didn't care who was reading but that I'd only write when I felt like it...and then life took over.  We have been busy enough that sitting down and blogging on our seven year old mac (that took 47 minutes to upload pictures on) was a chore.  

So I haven't.  

But now it's sounding good again.  So if anyone is still out here, hi.  Here are a couple pictures from our day in Chicago last weekend.  Scott let me pick whatever I wanted to do with the day: breakfast at Lou Mitchell's where the kids experienced their first box of milkdud's (at 9 am in the morning), prunes in bowls before the meal and "Mitchell Mouse pancakes."  It was hilarious, and is now Sam's favorite restaurant.  

Then we went to church, and Fox and Obel afterwards to grab the makings of a picnic lunch.  Practically adjacent to the store is a branch of the Chicago River, and some really cool fountains.  It's a neat place to sit on a bench and watch your kids chase pigeons, as they intermittedly try to feed the birds pieces of a $3.50 creme brûlée tart.  So glad I bought that.  Not.

Last, we landed at Millennium Park, wandered under the Bean, through the gigantic face fountains, and planted ourselves in the green grass lawn to play football, tickle, giggle and eat really good bread.

It was the perfect day, thank you honey!